IndiGo boards Travelport for fare, product distribution

New Delhi: Domestic airline IndiGo and travel commerce platform Travelport today officially launched their partnership for distribution of the budget carrier's fares and ancillary products to the portal's customers across 180 countries. National carrier Air India, Vistara and SpiceJet are among other airlines that already have a tie-up with Travelport.

IndiGo in September had announced the signing of its strategic partnership with Travelport to distribute its low fares and ancillaries to all connected Travelport travel agencies around the world - both online and offline.

"We are very excited to officially launch our content on the travel commerce Platform today and proud of our partnership with Travelport. Travelport's technology is providing an opportunity for us to reach new travellers at home and internationally," IndiGo President and Whole-time Director Aditya Ghosh said.

The Travelport platform offers fully-integrated, industry-leading merchandising capabilities and is used extensively by travel agencies in India as well as other key target markets for IndiGo.

"By adding IndiGo's fares and ancillaries to the Travelport platform, we have marked another significant industry first and we look forward to working with IndiGo in the years ahead to help them expand their distribution," Gordon Wilson, President and CEO, Travelport said.

"Look at our track record. Ryan Air, EasyJet among others (and) not one of them has left. No one is here due to sufferance. They come in because they want to and stay in our system.

So you have to conclude that there is value in it," Wilson said without giving any specific numbers when asked how much other domestic carriers had benefited from their tie-ups with Travelport.

To a question on the increase in ancillary revenue IndiGo was looking at from its new partnership, Ghosh said, "It has a lot to do with the freeing up of regulations. Many of the restrictions that exist in India don't exist in many of the countries."

At present, ancillary revenue accounts for 11-12 per cent of IndiGo's total revenue, which stood at Rs 4,166.93 crore in the September quarter of the current fiscal. "Ancillary revenues for airlines in India are low as compared to what you see typically in airlines around the world.

Here the ancillary revenues are low for a variety of factors, including the fact that in many parts of the world, low-cost airlines are allowed to charge for checking in the first bag," Ghosh added.

"There is no regulation that you have to allow so much baggage allowance per seat and on refundable and non-refundable fares, among others." The country's largest airline by market share, IndiGo currently operates 890 flights per day connecting 41 destinations, including five overseas, with a fleet of 122 Airbus A320 aircraft.